


Unlike Us

by dontlookback



Series: Mayward Week 2020 [4]
Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, POV Outsider, aka pov kiara, i'm too tired to tag hah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:00:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26884036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontlookback/pseuds/dontlookback
Summary: Mayward Week 2020, Prompt 4: "I'm not going anywhere." + established relationshipKiara loves her friends. That's all.
Relationships: JJ/Pope (Outer Banks)
Series: Mayward Week 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945528
Comments: 4
Kudos: 26





	Unlike Us

Kiara was sure she had had her _hurt him and I’ll kill you_ speech ready from the moment she had met her boys. They were an unlikely bunch, the four of them, but they worked. They argued and they got annoyed, sure, but they worked on a deeper level like that. She knew none of them would ever deliberately hurt another.

She would have called it a lucky coincidence, that JJ and Pope ended up dating, but it felt more like fate. If she choose to believe John B, the two boys had gone from strangers to best friends in a week. It _was_ John B, and so the story was probably exaggerated, but Kiara didn’t think it was far off the truth. In a group of four friends, there were bound to be all sorts of dynamics between them. It didn’t mean that some of them were lesser friends than others, it just meant that they were close in different ways. Kiara knew she could rely on JJ for goofing off; on John B for making life an adventure; on Pope for more serious conversations. When they were together, they were everything at once.

JJ and Pope had always been undeniably close, though, even inside their little group. They were, possibly, the least likely couple out of all of them, and yet they made perfect sense together. Kiara liked to think they had been dating long before it was made official, through constant touches and whispered inside jokes. She didn’t mind. All she ever wanted, all any of them ever wanted, was for them all to be happy. If JJ and Pope made each other happy, she didn’t wish for anything more.

Kiara watched them, now, in the Chateau’s little kitchen, and all she saw was happiness.

JJ was sitting on the kitchen counter, completely in the way of Pope, who was trying to put away the plates that belonged in the cabinet JJ’s legs were dangling in front of. JJ was laughing, his hands still clad in the brightly coloured floral gloves he’d put on when doing the dishes. He was reaching out to Pope with them, trying to get some of the bubbles that still stuck to them on Pope’s face.

“JJ, can’t you be helpful for _just one second_ and move so I can put these _goddamn_ plates away?” Pope said, dodging another bubble attack.

JJ laughed heartily. “I don’t think you can complain, since _I_ did all the dishes.”

“Because I did them last time!” Pope exclaimed. On the surface, he seemed exasperated, but Kiara saw the corner of his lips flick up just a tiny bit. He was biting back a smile, she knew, and he failed miserably only a moment later, when JJ gave up on trying to reach him and instead scooped up a handful of bubbles and just _threw_ them, as far as bubbles care to be thrown.

Kiara, from where she was sitting at the kitchen table, saw the exact moment Pope lost control and burst out into laughter. She watched him step between JJ’s legs. JJ shook off one of the gloves and brought his hand up to Pope’s face, brushing some bubbles from his cheek. His hand lingered as he leaned in for a kiss.

Kiara averted her eyes, feeling, oddly, like she was intruding on an intimate moment. She wasn’t, really. It was only a short kiss, and she wasn’t thirdwheeling alone, instead sharing the job with John B, who had somehow ended up horizontally on his chair, with his head resting on Kiara’s legs.

It was weird to remember there had been a moment in her life where she had thought she would end up with one of these boys. Now, two of them where sharing a soft kiss while the third was falling half asleep on her lap. She loved them endlessly, but she couldn’t imagine her love being anything but platonic – not anymore.

It was nice that they got to have this. It hadn’t been a good week for any of them. None of them had outrightly said it, but they all knew. John B had dark circles under his eyes; JJ kept moving and fiddling a lot; Pope, in contrast, was quiet.

Kiara didn’t know the details of what had happened to put them in these moods, but she did know this: recovery wasn’t a straight line, and each of them had plenty to recover from. It didn’t mean that everything was terrible. John B was falling half asleep already, which meant he felt comfortable enough around them to do so, and JJ and Pope…

They helped each other just by being there, Kiara knew.

She yawned silently – how late was it? – and tried to focus on the video that was playing on her phone, but she kept being distracted. Somehow, JJ had ended up with his hair and most of his shirt soaked through. Pope was now wearing the terrible gloves, and the both of them were turning circles around each other.

They were dancing, Kiara realised. Barefoot and clumsily, to music that was too soft to properly make out the rhythm, but dancing nonetheless. Pope twirled JJ around, and the two of them almost fell in the process, JJ letting out a yelp as he bumped backwards into the fridge.

“Are you trying to _kill me?_ ” he exclaimed, but the words had no impact, combined with a wide smile.

Pope stumbled over his own feet, passed it off as a dance move, and ended up next to JJ. “Not yet. Maybe next time you don’t let me put away the plates, but not yet.”

JJ grinned, and put on a terrible British accent. “What has caused you to be so merciful, my lord?”

“Hm,” Pope hummed and pulled the gloves of before taking on of JJ’s hands in his own. “I’m not ready to be alone.”

A short silence fell over them. Kiara knew there was a hint of a more serious conversation in Pope’s words, but she also knew that it was too late to have that conversation. John B was as good as asleep, and JJ seemed at a loss for words, so Kiara spoke up. Her voice was a bit raspy, having been quiet for a while. “You’d still have us if JJ went away. You hurt me, bro. It’s like you just forget out us!” The silence after that lasted much less long, because Kiara smiled and added, “But I’d like to second the not killing JJ thing.”

“Damn right,” JJ said, unexpectedly. He took a step closer to Pope, laying his head on the other boy’s shoulder and reaching to hold Pope’s other hand as well. “I’m not going anywhere. You all are stuck with me.”

Some of the tension faded away, and Kiara breathed a sigh of relief. She knew she would have to move before actually falling asleep, but she closed her eyes for a moment, letting the silence wash over her.

Some days were hard. _Most_ days were hard.

But they – the four of them – were unstoppable, most days.

**Author's Note:**

> okay so plottwist i really don't like this one hah. i had a whole idea vaguely planned out but absolutetly no motivation to write it so i thought i was genius with a little soft oneshot from kiara's pov, but... as it turns out writing outsider pov's is not my thing
> 
> anyways not my best but i hope it's still enjoyable, and as always you can find me on tumblr @the-pogues and check out other mayward week stuff on there @maywardweek2020
> 
> <3


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